CSBG Archive

Sunday brunch: Links for the week of 16-22 June 2013

I took last week off and almost thought I was going to take this week off – you might notice I haven’t posted here in over a week, because I’ve just been uninspired recently, even though I’m in the middle of my latest Comics You Should Own, which are usually fun to write. But then I decided to get going, mainly because of the two big stories in the comics world this week, so let’s check out some links, shall we?MAN OF STEEL STUFF! (WITH SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY)

First up, of course, is the new Superman movie. I haven’t seen it and probably won’t until it shows up on television, because I just don’t have any interest in watching CGI people bash each other, but it inspired a … what’s the word? … oh, yes, a shitload of commentary on yonder Internets. Onward!

Mark Waid’s review might have gotten it all started, as Waid says his heart was broken by the movie. He also mentioned that he didn’t get any royalties from the movie, which many people perceived as whining. It wasn’t, though, as he explains here how DC contracts work. Boy, who knew Paul Levitz was so much more ethical than most corporate types in comics?

Here’s a David Goyer interview about the movie. Some people have complained about Man of Steel‘s dourness, which is interesting because Goyer isn’t necessarily a humorless dude. I haven’t read too many of his comics, but they’re not completely doom-and-gloom, and Da Vinci’s Demons, which he created and some of which he wrote, has some humor to it. Maybe Zach Snyder, who leeches the fun out of pretty much everything, had more influence on the movie?

Tim O’Neil, who’s a very smart dude, writes about Man of Steel. It’s a very interesting response to some of the criticisms of the movie.

Anyway, as I said, I didn’t see the movie nor do I have any interest in it. According to what I’ve read about the movie, the reason I think I’d object to Superman killing Zod is twofold: 1. Zod wins. He wants Superman to kill him, so when Superman does, Zod wins. That doesn’t seem like a good place to begin a franchise. 2. The general laziness of action movies, where the bad guy always had to die. It’s kind of dull, and it would seem that a Superman movie would be the perfect place to break that mold. But whatever.

The last word should go to my friend Corwin, who noted on Facebook that “Man of Steel is a Superman movie for people who hate Superman, made by people who hate Superman.” I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s an awesome line.

KIM THOMPSON STUFF

You may have heard that Kim Thompson died this week. As usual with deaths of people I didn’t know, this event doesn’t really affect me all that much (which is why I don’t really care that James Gandolfini died), but obviously, a LOT of people in comics knew Thompson, so they wrote about him.

By the way, Saga sells really well. I love trying to figure out why certain things sell so well. Saga has its problems, but it still sells ridiculously well, and it’s not riding/creating a zeitgeist like The Walking Dead is. No one can really say why Saga is selling well, but it’s great for Vaughan and Staples – especially Staples, as she probably needs it more. It’s kind of like listening to Thriller and wondering why it’s the best-selling album of all time – it’s a perfectly good album, but why did it sell so well? Lightning in a bottle, people.

Here’s a list of the best one-time Simpsons characters. You’ll note that all of them are from Seasons 1 through 8.

The nine-minute clip in this post might be the weirdest thing on Netflix Instant. And, apparently, it’s not the only one of its kind. If you have 9 minutes to kill, it’s weirdly hypnotic.

A metal band called Cryptic Murmurs (which, I have to believe, comes from the fact that you can’t understand their lyrics) made a song called “Anderson Cooper,” which Anderson Cooper then talked about on television. He’s quite the good sport about it.

This is a weird story: The deputy director of Tennessee’s Division of Water Resources, responding to claims that the water in Maury County was making people sick, said that making these claims without evidence is an act of terrorism. Man, the United States just keeps getting weirder.

If you’ve never heard of Exodus International, they’re a group who tried to “cure” homosexuals through “therapy” and, you know, Jesus. Well, they’ve decided to close, and its president offered a big apology on their web site. Nice to know people can change, although the people they “helped” might still be a bit peeved.

Greg Burgas

Greg: Yeah, I’ve always heard good things about Levitz, so that was a half-joking question. Like you, I’m very impressed that he thought enough to send out royalties for things that DC wasn’t even remotely obligated to pay royalties for.

Dan

The list of biggest conventions is not complete. I’ve been to Motor City CC and DragonCon in the last year and they were both bigger than the smallest one on the list. Any other notable ones that anyone knows of?